The United States served as host for the 1995 freestyle wrestling world championships, held in Atlanta, Ga., on August 10-13. The host country took first place with 71 points and four gold medals. Iran placed second with 59 points and one gold. Russia was third with 58 points, followed by Turkey with 35 points and Cuba with 34 points. Valentin Jordanov of Bulgaria won his seventh world championship.

The Greco-Roman world championships took place in Prague on October 12-15. Russia won with 75 points, and Germany followed with 39 points. Russian heavyweight Aleksandr Karelin won his seventh world championship.

The freestyle World Cup took place in Chattanooga, Tenn., on April 7-8. The U.S. won its third straight dual meet title by defeating Russia in the final match 20-19 and gained a total of 10 team points. Russia scored 8 points, Turkey 6, Iran 4, and Canada 2.

The 65th U.S. collegiate championships were held in Iowa City, Iowa, on March 16-18. Winning the team title was host school Iowa with 134 points and one champion. Winning his third collegiate title was North Carolina’s T.J. Jaworsky at 60.8 kg (134 lb). Johanna Schneider

Sumo

Sumo’s new star, Takanohana, gained promotion to the top rank of yokozuna at the end of November 1994 and dominated 1995 by winning four of the six annual 15-day tournaments. His older brother, ozeki (the second highest rank) Wakanohana, and yokozuna Akebono, a Hawaiian-American, won the other two titles. Takanohana captured the Hatsu basho (New Year’s tournament) with a strong 13-2 record, defeating ozeki Musashimaru, an American-Samoan from Hawaii, in a play-off. In the Haru basho in March, Akebono had a near-perfect 14-1 mark to win his eighth yusho (tournament title). But Takanohana won three consecutive yusho, in May, July, and September. In May’s Natsu basho, he won by 14-1; in the Nagoya basho in July, he took the title with a 13-2 record; and finally in the Aki basho in September, he breezed to his third straight yusho with a perfect 15-0 mark, increasing his total yusho to 11. In the year’s sixth and final basho in November--a historic encounter involving two brothers competing for the first time ever--ozeki Wakanohana defeated Takanohana in a play-off after they finished the Kyushu basho with identical 12-3 records. Andy Adams